Tory MP Peter Bone has been recommended for a six-week suspension from the Commons after being found to have committed bullying and sexual misconduct against a staff member.
Parliament’s Independent Expert Panel (IEP) said the MP for Wellingborough “committed many varied acts of bullying and one act of sexual misconduct” against a member of his staff in 2012 and 2013, which he denies.
The suspension, if approved by MPs, could lead to the Conservative facing a recall petition that could pave the way for another by-election.
Who is Peter Bone?
Mr Bone, formerly an accountant, was first elected as a Tory councillor in Southend in 1978.
He ran unsuccessfully for parliament in 1994, 1997 and 2001 before eventually winning the Wellingborough seat, in Northamptonshire, in 2005.
Mr Bone is a member of the 1922 Committee, a group of backbench Conservative MPs that meets weekly, serving as an executive member from 2007 to 2012.
Although he was not forced to pay back any money, questions were raised about Mr Bone’s conduct in the wake of the parliamentary expenses scandal.
He was one of 32 MPs who claimed the maximum allowance of £4,800 a year for food in 2010 and came under investigation in 2014 for expenses claims relating to the upkeep of his second home.
In Parliament, he serves on the Procedure Committee, the Committee on Exiting the European Union and the Panel of Chairs.
The 70-year-old was promoted to the front bench for the first time as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons towards the end of Boris Johnson’s tenure.
He then supported Liz Truss’s subsequent leadership campaign, only to find himself sacked when she entered Downing Street.
What are the allegations?
Five allegations by a Westminster staffer were made in October 2021, having had a complaint to then-prime minister Theresa May in 2017 unresolved, according to the IEP report.
The complaints included four allegations of bullying, saying Mr Bone:
- “Verbally belittled, ridiculed, abused and humiliated” his employee
- “Repeatedly physically struck and threw things” at him, including hitting him with his hand or an object such as a pencil or a rolled-up document
- Imposed an “unwanted and humiliating ritual” on him by forcing him to sit with his hands in his lap when the MP was unhappy with his workOstracised the complainant following an incident on a work trip to Madrid
The complainant also alleged that Mr Bone had “repeatedly pressurised” the member of staff to give him a massage in the office, and on a visit to Madrid with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking, indecently exposed himself to the complainant in the bathroom and bedroom of the hotel room they were sharing.
Following an investigation, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner upheld all four allegations of bullying and the allegation of sexual misconduct relating to the incident in Madrid. However, he found the demands for massages were bullying, not sexual misconduct.
Mr Bone appealed against the decision, which was then upheld by a sub-panel of the IEP, which described it as a “serious case of misconduct” including “a deliberate and conscious abuse of power using a sexual mechanism”.
The sub-panel said: “The bullying involved violence, shouting and swearing, mocking, belittling and humiliating behaviour, and ostracism. It was often in front of others… The respondent specifically targeted the complainant.”
How has Mr Bone responded?
Mr Bone said the allegations are “false and untrue” and “without foundation” as he vowed to continue representing his constituents.
Writing on social media, Mr Bone, who was appointed deputy leader of the House of Commons by Boris Johnson, said the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) investigation into him “was flawed, procedurally unfair and didn’t comply with its own rules and regulations”.
n his response to the IEP’s findings, Mr Bone said: “As I have maintained throughout these proceedings, none of the misconduct allegations against me ever took place. They are false and untrue claims. They are without foundation.”
He said the complainant had not raised the issues during their employment and said ICGS rules meant he could not “detail my views on the huge inconsistencies and lack of evidence in the allegations”.
Mr Bone said: “I can say that the allegations are the only allegations at all made against me throughout my work as an MP and beyond. Witness statements were submitted from 10 employees (current and former) of the highest integrity, testifying to the professional, accommodating and friendly place my office is to work.”
Claiming the ICGS investigation was “procedurally unfair”, he said he is “discussing with lawyers what action could and should be taken”.
Mr Bone will now face a vote in the Commons on the six-week suspension recommended by the IEP report, with the Standards Committee required to produce a report formally recommending the suspension within three sitting days in order to trigger the vote.
If his suspension is approved, it will trigger a recall petition that could lead to a by-election in Mr Bone’s Wellingborough constituency, where he has a majority of 18,540.